Drinking, Dumping, and Dieing in the Ganges

Hey there,

The morning after the bombings we trained to Varanasi. We were six hours away from experiencing the "craziest" place in all of India. Varanasi is located on the Ganges River and is one of the holiest cities in all of India. Ghats (stairways) line the river and are the main tourist attraction. There are three major types of ghats: bathing ghats, cloth washing ghats, and of course the burning ghats. Varanasi was really a perfect place to start our India adventure!!!

I felt like I was in a dream walking along the ghats. From our hostel we walked one minute towards the river. I was taking pictures when an Indian man started yelling at me to put my camera away. I quickly realized when I saw the fires that we were at one of the burning ghats. Indians from all over the country come to be burned in Varanasi. I watched the ritual for over an hour in amazement. 200-300 bodies are burned every day. 24 hours a day, sometimes even more...

While burning bodies aren't something you see everyday, this city gets even crazier. For those of you who enjoy some quality people watching Varanasi is the place to be. 100 meters away from the burning ghat, hundreds of Indians are bathing, drinking, and brushing their teeth in the river. This is the same water that workers are shoving human ashes into every second. All the sewage in the city flows directly into the water. Dead babies and lepers are sunk with stones in the middle of the water (because they can't be burned). And trash lines the entire perimeter of the river. I'm positive if I even stuck my toe in this water it would fall off within minutes. It's funny, because everyone uses lonely planet and shares the same facts from their reading. The most commonly quoted fact from the guidebook is as follows: "There are 1.5 million fecal coliforms per mL in the Ganges. The safe amount for bathing is 500 fecal coliforms per mL."

One of the easiest (and most creative) scams to fall for near the ghats is the "handshake." An Indian comes up to you and holds out his hand. When you grab his hand you are instantly put in an Iron grip and the tout starts massaging. It actually feels pretty nice, but soon after he will charge you for his service. It's pretty funny watching them go from tourist to tourist.

I've decided the time spent outside in Varanasi is directly proportional to the amount of strange stuff you see. For example, one afternoon we were hanging out at one of the ghats and a cow starts pissing all over a guys sandals for about a minute. Soon after, the man put his sandal back on without hesitation and continued his conversation with the man next to him... I think he may have actually been quite happy about his good luck.

After 3 days of walking around the ghats, eating street food, getting stomach aches, and seeing weird stuff we were ready to head to our next destination: Agra and the Taj!

More posts coming soon,
Sam